The Boyfriend -- Part III
by Kirk Hastings
Summary: The danger to the Lane family from Khurdistani nationals comes to a head as Cathy's father is led into a trap designed to permanently stop him from ever helping the rebels in that country again. Can Cathy's new boyfriend, with his unusual powers, rescue Kenneth in time?


" **THE BOYFRIEND"**

 **Part III**

by Kirk Hastings

 _(Based on characters created by Sidney Sheldon for "The Patty Duke Show", _broadcast from 1963 to 1966 on ABC-TV.)__

 **C** athy left her uncle's study in a state of utter shock. She went upstairs and flopped onto her bed, where she started to cry. A few minutes later Patty came into the room. Immediately noticing how upset Cathy was, she went over to her cousin. Cathy sat up.

"Oh, Patty!" was all Cathy could get out. Patty sat down next to her cousin and wrapped her arms around her.

"What is it, Cath?" Patty asked her. "What's wrong?"

That question opened the floodgates. Cathy started to tell Patty everything - about how the Khurdistani nationals had tried to kidnap her; how Ted had managed to rescue her with a display of unusual physical strength; and how her father Kenneth had decided that Cathy should go back to Europe with him. She also told Patty all about Ted's background, and the explanation he gave for his superhuman abilities - and how he wanted that kept a secret, so that the government wouldn't decide to come after him to put him in a cage in order to study him like a lab rat.

Patty listened quietly and patiently while Cathy vented. Finally Patty got up and went over to her night table for a box of tissues. She came back and sat down next to Cathy again, and gave her the tissue box. While Cathy wiped her eyes and her nose Patty held her other hand.

"Cath, I can't believe everything you've been through this past week!" Patty told her, sympathetically. "I wish I had known!"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you all this sooner," Cathy sobbed. "I didn't know what to do."

"Of course you know I won't tell anyone about Ted's secret," Patty declared.

"I know you won't," Cathy replied. "But what are we going to do? I love my father, but I don't want to leave you. Or Ted. Oh Patty, I think I'm in love with Ted!"

She started to cry again, and Patty held her close.

"It's all right, Cath," Patty told her gently. "We'll figure something out. There's got to be another answer to all this besides you leaving us. We've just got to figure out what it is."

Cathy looked at her cousin. "Do you really think so?" she asked hopefully.

Patty just smiled lamely. The truth was, she wasn't sure what they could do either.

# # #

A little while later, after Patty and Cathy had talked awhile and Patty had managed to calm her cousin down somewhat, Cathy, emotionally exhausted, had ended up falling asleep on her bed. Patty took the opportunity to leave the room. She went downstairs, grabbed her coat, and went out. She walked down the street to where the Boys' Home was where Ted lived. Once inside the lobby she asked the Home's director if she could speak to Ted. When Ted was notified that he had a visitor, he came downstairs and met Patty in the Home's foyer.

"Ted, can we take a walk?" Patty asked him. "There are some things I think you need to know, and they need to be discussed in private."

"Sure, Patty," Ted replied. He put on his coat and the pair went outside and started to stroll down the sidewalk.

As they walked, Patty admitted to Ted that Cathy had told her about his background, and the secret of his extraordinary physical ability.

At this revelation Ted stopped. He sat down on a nearby stoop. Patty came over and sat down next to him.

"You don't have to worry," Patty told him. "I don't ever intend to repeat to anyone what Cathy told me."

At that Ted seemed to relax. "It's all right, Patty," he told her. "I know you're a decent and honest girl, just like your cousin - and I trust you. If you say you'll keep my secret, then I believe you."

Patty smiled at him. "Thank you for your confidence," she replied. "I'll certainly try to live up to it. … However, I have more news. And it's not good."

Ted looked at her.

"Cathy's father wants to take Cathy back to Europe with him. He feels that she's not safe here."

A look of dismay came over Ted's face again.

"I guess I should have known that it would come to this," he said dejectively, looking down at the ground. "I can't really blame Cathy's father for being concerned about her safety after what has happened. I am too."

"But I don't want to lose Cathy any more than you do," Patty replied. "What can we do to convince Cathy's father that she should stay here in New York?" She looked at Ted and smiled a half-smile. "Personally, I have no doubt that she's perfectly safe with someone like you around!"

"I'd like to think so," Ted replied. "But I have to admit that I'm not familiar enough with the Khurdistanis to know what they're really capable of. From what your Uncle Kenneth has told us, they can be pretty nasty people. We've seen the evidence of that. And although the men that tried to abduct Cathy are now all safely in custody, we don't know how many other Khurdistanis may be in the country too that may have come over with them."

# # #

The doorbell at the Lane home rang. Natalie came out of the kitchen and went to open the front door. She found a man in a Western Union uniform standing there.

"Telegram for a Mr. Kenneth Lane," the man announced.

"Please, come in," Natalie told him. "I'll get him."

The man came inside and Natalie went upstairs. A minute later she came back with Kenneth in tow. Ken signed for the telegram, and the delivery man left.

"I'm always so nervous when a telegram comes," Natalie said with a nervous smile. "They always seem to contain bad news."

Ken smiled a bit nervously himself. He ripped the telegram open and began to read.

"Is everything all right?" Natalie asked him.

Ken quickly folded the telegram up and stuffed it in his pocket. "Yes, yes, everything's fine, Nat," he replied. "Just a note from a fellow reporter I know giving me a news tip. I'd better go see what it's all about." He went over to the closet nearby and took out his coat.

"I'll see you in a little while," he said. He hurried out the front door.

After Kenneth had gone Natalie continued to stand where she was, an expression of concern on her face. Why did she have the feeling that Ken hadn't told her the truth, and that he was keeping something serious from her?

She looked down and noticed that the telegram that Kenneth had gotten was lying on the floor. Apparently it must have fallen out of his pocket when he had put his coat on and rushed out. She picked the telegram up, and fought a momentary battle with herself to read it. Finally she gave in to her curiosity and opened it.

As she read the message her eyes widened, and her hand involuntarily came up to her mouth in shock.

# # #

A short while later as twilight began to settle on Brooklyn Heights Patty and Ted came back to the Lane home. Just as they were coming inside Cathy came down the stairs. When she saw Ted she rushed into his arms and started to cry again.

"It's all right, Cathy, it's all right," Ted whispered in her ear. "Patty told me all about how you might be leaving. But it hasn't happened yet. We still have some time to figure something out. Please don't cry."

Hearing the commotion in the foyer Natalie and Martin came in from the living room. The look on both of their faces prompted Patty to ask, "Mommo, what's wrong?"

"I was just about to call the police," Martin said. He held up the telegram that Ken had received earlier. "This telegram was delivered for Ken a little while ago. After he got it Natalie said he rushed out. I'm afraid it's bad."

"May I see it?" Ted asked.

Martin handed it to him. Ted quickly scanned it.

"Meet us at the far end of Pier 7 on Furman Road tonight by 8 P.M. Come alone. If you do not show up, we will target the members of your family one by one for assassination," Ted read out loud in a solemn voice. "Signed, Khurdistan Forever."

Ted handed the telegram back to Martin. Thinking for only a moment he turned back toward the door as if to leave.

"Ted, where are you going?" Martin asked him.

"Mr. Lane, you do what you need to do," Ted replied. "And I'll do what I have to do!"

Ted darted out the front door. Cathy and Martin both called out the door after him, but Ted ignored their cries. He ran up the entrance ramp to the Promenade at the end of the street, and rushed over to the fence along its outer edge. He looked down over the railing. Below were the two levels of Interstate 278, and below those was Furman Street, which ran along the Brooklyn Heights waterfront. It was at least a good 40-foot drop down to the street. A series of piers and docks lined the western edge of the street along the East River, and Pier 7 was a couple of piers south of the block where the Lane home was located.

Without any hesitation Ted climbed up onto the top of the railing. And then he leaped off.

Cathy ran over to the Promenade railing, followed closely by her uncle. They were just in time to see Ted plummet the 40+ feet down to the lower street level, where he landed squarely on his feet. Unhurt, he straightened up and began to run south along the roadway toward Pier 7.

# # #

By the time Ted reached the pier night had fallen. The wide concrete dock and the giant warehouses that stood on it, previously used for the unloading of freight from large ships from other countries, had fallen out of use in recent years and were now largely deserted. Ted walked along the one side of the warehouses until he reached the far end of the pier out over the water.

He looked around. One dim streetlamp illuminated piles of discarded old freight boxes and assorted junk lying about - but there didn't seem to be anyone around.

But, he noticed, there was a fairly large ship that appeared to be an old freighter of some kind that had seen better days docked at the end of the pier. Ted walked over to the ship. He walked its length, and when he reached the rear of it he discovered that it was registered as being from Afghanistan.

This ship was probably how the Khurdistani nationals had made their way into the United States. They had probably been smuggled in aboard this nondescript vessel. And, he thought, there could very well be still more Khurdistanis on board.

And Kenneth Lane was now in all probability a prisoner on that ship as well.

Ted spotted a lone gangplank leading to the upper deck of the ship. Deciding that using the walkway would be way too obvious a method of his trying to sneak aboard, he walked over to the front of the ship where one of the heavy deck ropes secured the ship to the pier. Ted grabbed the rope in both hands, swung out over the water, and then wrapped both his feet around the rope. In this fashion he made his way up the rope to the ship's upper deck.

Once over the ship's side Ted knelt on the deck for a second, listening. There seemed to be no one about. So he straightened up and cautiously headed across the deck toward the ship's main superstructure.

Suddenly a deck guard appeared from around a corner, carrying a rifle. Before the man knew what was happening Ted grabbed the guard by his clothes and tossed him over the side of the ship before he could make a sound. The man landed in the water far below with a soft splash.

Ted moved on. He reviewed a couple of cabin doors as he passed them, peering through their porthole windows. Each interior room was dark.

But finally he came to a cabin that was occupied.

Through the lighted porthole he could see Kenneth, surrounded by half a dozen foreign men. He guessed that at least two or three of them were from Khurdistan. One man was holding an assault weapon against Ken's chest.

Ted knew what he had to do. He grabbed the heavy metal cabin door with both hands, and with a mighty shove he pushed inward. The door came off its hinges, and Ted stepped into the cabin with it. Once inside he turned the door sideways and proceeded forward, using the door as a shield. The men surrounding Ken turned and momentarily stared, wide-eyed, at what was approaching them. The man with the gun raised it to fire but didn't get the chance. Ted was on him, and dumped the heavy door on top of him and the man standing next to him. The two fell to the floor with the door on top of them, securely pinning them. The armed man's gun flew out of his hands as he dropped. When it hit the floor Ted kicked it across the room.

Ted instantly turned and faced the other men. He grabbed two more of them by their shirts and lifted them up off the floor, where he cracked their heads together. They dropped like stones, unconscious, to the deck.

That left only two more. Ted grabbed another one and threw him bodily across the room, where he hit the far wall and fell to the floor. He did not get up.

While all this was going on Kenneth threw a right cross at the remaining man, dropping him to the deck as well.

"Let's get out of here!" Ted shouted to Ken.

"I'm with you!" Ken replied. They both sprinted from the cabin.

Outside, both men ran down the gangplank to the pier. When they reached the pier they stopped. They could hear police sirens wailing not far away.

"Martin must have called the police," Ted told Kenneth. "I'd better go before they get here. My presence could raise too many embarrassing questions." He turned and made as if to leave.

"Wait!" Kenneth said, grabbing his arm. "What do I tell them? How do I explain how I got away from those men?"

"Tell them the truth!" Ted replied, smiling. "Tell them some mysterious guy showed up out of nowhere and helped you escape, and then he took off!"

Ted backed away and disappeared into the shadows just as a couple of police officers came running up the pier.

# # #

It was some time later that evening before all the reporters and police officers finally left the Lane house, and the neighborhood at the end of Remsen Street returned to normal. When Cathy was finally able to get off by herself, she put on her coat and went outside, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Lane home. A moment later Kenneth came out and joined her. Cathy hugged her father for about the hundredth time that evening, eternally grateful that he had come through the evening's events unharmed.

"I just got some good news from Miller down at the office," Ken told her. "The conflict in Khurdistan is over. General Muzeem was able to lead a successful takeover of the Khurdistani occupiers, and they were totally routed."

"Oh, father, that's wonderful news!" Cathy exclaimed.

She went back to staring up and down the street.

"You're waiting for Ted, aren't you?" her father asked her.

Cathy nodded. Just then a voice came out of the darkness.

"Did someone mention my name?"

At that moment a figure stepped out of the shadows across the street into the light of the overhead streetlamp.

It was Ted.

Without hesitation Cathy ran across the street into his arms. They held each other for a long time before Cathy finally looked up into his eyes.

"Thank you for saving my father's life," she told him, tears in her eyes.

They embraced again.

After a moment, Ted whispered into her ear: "I love you, Cathy."

Cathy looked up at him again.

"I love you too, Ted," she said. "And I don't ever want to leave you."

Ken walked over to them. "You won't ever have to," Ken said to Ted. "The civil war in Khurdistan is over. The government occupiers there have been routed, and it's unlikely that they will ever be able to reform again. Besides, I've changed my mind. I've decided that the safest place in the whole world for Cathy is to stay right where she is."

Both Cathy and Ted smiled at him. "Thank you, sir," Ted replied. He shook Kenneth's hand.

While all this was going on Patty, Martin, Natalie and Ross were all standing over in the Lane doorway.

"Don't you just love a happy ending?" Patty said, looking at Ted and Cathy with a dreamy smile on her face.

Just then Richard came bouncing up the sidewalk.

"Hi, everybody!" he said. "I've been out of town for a while. Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

All the members of the Lane family looked at him. As Richard looked quizzically at them they all began to laugh.

THE END

 _Look for more stories of the Lane family and Ted Lang, coming soon!_


End file.
